The Marcbot: the Army Program That Revolutionized Robotics for Patrol Warfighters by William J
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IQT QUARTERLY The MARCbot: The Army program that Revolutionized Robotics for patrol Warfighters by William J. Cohen and Ken Zemach Introduction resulting benefits provided warfighters with standoff from potentially deadly devices, the ability to summon In Iraq, sometime during 2003, the threat of Improvised specialty bomb disposal personnel with a greater Explosive Devices (IEDs) used against U.S. and coalition certainty as to the need, and allowed patrols and forces began to grow significantly and resultant deaths convoys to push forward with their critical missions. and injuries became frequent. IEDs became the most Over 1000 production MARCbots were manufactured by common and effective tool of the insurgents and, for a Exponent, Inc. for use in Iraq, and later, in Afghanistan. moment, we were surprised. There was nothing fancy about the tactics and nothing particularly advanced The Role of the U.S. Army about the technology, but insurgents leveraged an Rapid Equipping Force effective way to kill and injure warfighters. The stories In 2002, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, GEN John are myriad: IEDs in boxes, trash, gas cans, dead M. Keane, heard that warfighters were sometimes animals — laying there in the road and triggered in exploring caves in Afghanistan with a rope tied around various ways. Initially IEDs were made from old artillery their waist, the same thing many “tunnel rats” did shells that were easy to procure in the immediate post- in Vietnam. He asked Army COL Bruce Jette to lead invasion Iraq. The types of IEDs continuously evolved a response to this allegation and perhaps identify throughout the U.S. combat involvement in Iraq to some sort of robot that could do the job instead, thus include homemade explosives and horribly effective exposing warfighters to less risk. EFPs (explosively formed penetrators). IEDs were the first truly asymmetric, evolving, effective, and enduring To help mitigate this problem, Exponent was asked threat of the Iraq conflict with enormous associated to create a theater-capable wearable computer with human and capital costs. helmet mounted eye piece display to control the robot and support the mission. In less than two months, This article is about the Multi-function, Agile, Exponent engineers and Army personnel were Remote-Controlled Robot (MARCbot) introduced as exploring caves in Afghanistan with robots. Because of an inexpensive, mission-specific robotic platform the success of this mission, GEN Keane initiated the developed for the inspection of suspected IEDs or creation of the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force (REF). suspicious materials throughout the urban and Its mission is to provide warfighters with critically rural environments of Iraq. It was developed with needed capabilities in the shortest possible time the intention of providing route clearance, patrolling, frame. Exponent became the REF’s main engineering and convoy warfighters an asset that could improve partner to help assess capability gaps and provide positive identification of IEDs at a time when that need engineering prototyping both in and out of theater for was both critical and generally unaddressed. The nearly eight years. IQT QUARTERLY SUMMER 2011 Vol. 3 No. 1 15 IQT QUARTERLY A new Mission to Combat IEDs by everyday patrol units. In early 2004, 22 of these robots were made available in Iraq for investigative purposes. By 2004, REF had established an in-country presence in Iraq with Exponent labs. As the IED threat in Iraq The rules for usage were simple: non-EOD personnel increased, so too did the horrific stories about soldiers were not allowed to “mess” with suspect devices. dying while investigating suspicious objects in the road However, using a robot to visually inspect a suspicious (be it an old tire, dead dog, burlap sack, or even a hole object often allowed warfighters to confirm that it that was the scene of a previous IED blast). Exponent was not a threat, and the mission could proceed. began to engage with warfighters on their operational In the case when an IED was found or at least still problems, and kept hearing the same thing. When suspected, then EOD would be called. This, in turn, asked why they would just walk up to something they greatly decreased the quantity of calls to EOD, freeing suspected might kill them, warfighters would often them up to handle more likely threats, and reducing respond, “What else are we supposed to do?” their response time. The choices at the time were very limited. If you Creating the First Small Robot for suspected that something was an IED, you could: walk patrol Soldiers up to it and inspect it; drive by it slowly and inspect it; By the middle of 2004 it was clear that small robots drive by it quickly and hope it didn’t blow up; shoot at could be useful, but the price tag, limited inspection it and see what happened; or use binoculars to view capabilities (no elevated camera), and limited availability it — all of which were either dangerous or ineffective. of other appropriate robots made it an unlikely and The other option was calling the Explosive Ordnance insufficient bulk purchase. At the request of the REF, Disposal (EOD) to investigate it with their specialty Exponent prototyped a small remote controlled device robots or other methods. However, at that time, EOD for the mission. The final product had very high reliability response times were often measured in hours, during rates in theater, and was purpose-built for the threat and which the road had to be closed, and insurgents could environment. The idea was that, when the heat was on, a freely set up attacks using mortars and rockets. For warfighter could deploy the robot in under one minute. warfighters on patrol whose job it was to keep the roadways open and safe for travel, none of these These initial few robots, placed with the units who had options were sufficient or particularly safe. the need and mission, were tremendously successful. For instance, the very first prototype was reported to Robots for Route Clearance: have confirmed over 30 IEDs on the notorious Airport A new Concept Road between the Baghdad Airport base complex and In the early days of the Iraq war, the average patrolling the Green Zone. IEDs proved to be one of the most unit did not think that they could get access to any sort dangerous and disruptive tools in the insurgent’s of remote detection device. The now much-utilized arsenal and every day in Iraq, dozens of IEDs continued Buffalo vehicle consisted of a fleet of two, and it took to disrupt convoys, destroy Coalition assets, and maim years to assemble enough Buffalos to service the need. and kill U.S. troops. The MARCbot immediately proved This led Exponent and the REF to repurpose the iRobot to be an extremely critical tool in this fight. The 2nd PackBot Scout robots from Afghanistan to Iraq for use REF Director, COL Greg Tubbs, decisively initiated the notion of small robots for patrols and ordered the first large batch to be distributed throughout Iraq as well as negotiating their repair and support by the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office. Applying In-Theater Technology Experience to Shape Military product Development By 2004 Exponent had worked with and supported a number of robotic platforms. In-theater development and supporting technology proved critical in the development of the MARCbot, driving several design principles that were essential for the MARCbot’s success: • Design the robot to do only one task, and that task must be something that is repeated often. Any 16 Vol. 3 No. 1 Identify. Adapt. Deliver.™ IQT QUARTERLY The final product had very high reliability rates in theater, and was purpose-built for the threat and environment. functions that broaden the range of capabilities • Absolute minimization of technology and outside of the core mission only serve to add components for reduced system maintenance and complexity, reduce overall system reliability, add lower costs. unnecessary cost, and increase user training benefits of the MARCbot as an Asset requirements and potential confusion under to patrol Soldiers pressure. A user must be able to find the robot in its box and successfully operate it in less than a minute. Over the next few years, additional features were added to improve the performance of these robots. • Specifically do NOT design in other features, Remote antennas allowed warfighters to operate the systems, and capabilities that are only tangential robot from within the armored environment of their to the mission. For instance, GPS was specifically vehicle and to see what the robot sees from safe rejected as an option due to Exponent’s in-theater distances. The simplicity of the system allowed a experience with the GPS system, capabilities, and warfighter to receive the robot and, without complex issues with other robotic platforms. training, be able to fully operate it nearly immediately. This proved enormously helpful during a time when • Absolutely reject any control system that has buttons warfighters in need were scattered around Iraq, but or controls that are not central to the primary trainers were not. The MARCbot was also the first mission of the robot (e.g., a laptop).By the time of military robot asset to run exclusively from military design, Exponent had several years of in-theater batteries, and runtime topped almost six hours from experience supporting several types of robots that a set. Since the fielding of the MARCbot, both the were controlled by both wearable computers, and Packbot (iRobot) and Talon (QinetiQ) EOD robots have later by laptops. The use of computers to control been upgraded to ensure that they operate on military robots resulted in roughly three times the number standard x90 batteries as well.